First appt with community paediatrician

[rabbitheadlights]

Hi folks

Looking for advice really my ds 16 months had his 1st appt with a general paed today and I came away feeling fobbed off we have a follow up in 2 months. However he has an appointment with a community paed on 21st can any of you advise how to get the most out of this appt? I'm utterly convinced my boy is asd

Thankyou for any advice

I think at this age they often "sit on the fence" as child development is so variable, and they don't want to risk giving a Dx that turns out to be wrong. With DD we saw paediatricians about every 6 months from when she was 2ish until she was Dx'd at around 4. It actually worked out fine: it meant she had her Dx before school, and we felt they had a lot of evidence on DD before they got to Dx.

For the appointments I always found it helpful to have a written list of my concerns and evidence for those, as well as questions I had for them (e.g. about ways to support her in developing skills where she seemed to be struggling more).

You might also like the Nurturing Neurodiversity YouTube channel and Facebook group: there are a lot of parents there with similar age children going through the diagnostic process. I know the uncertainty is really hard and wish this group had existed when we were going through the uncertainty of it.

Thank you so much for replying, I don't even know if it is autism I just know something isn't right, I have 6 other children and my d's is very different to all of them, This is the list I took to paeds yesterday and the doctor just scanned it said hmmmm let's see where we are up to in 3 months and reffered to ent for the gurgling sound

He sounds cute! It is very difficult to tell at this age which is probably why they are being a bit dismissive. Looks like just the right kind of list to take to your appointment on 21st though, and just add anything else you spot.

I think if you know he's different then he probably is different given you have so many other children: DD was my first (and also very like me) so I was clueless! Whether it's diagnosable and as what if so is harder to answer but the fact you are noticing things and caring enough to get it looked into will already put him on the right road.

I would also use the appointment to ask if there is anything you should be doing while you wait on the assumption that they ask you to go back in 6 months (e.g. there may be playgroups they can recommend, portage, parenting groups, types of toys/games to try, etc.)

Thank you, I've called Ted's which is our equivalent of portage, and they have put him on the waiting list. Im also taking him to physio to try to encourage him to stand or at least weight bear on his legs. From everything I've read regardless of what the issue is the earliest intervention seems to be best, so I don't want to do him a disservice by missing something.

Hello I'm having the same issue and my child is 2 she bites and headbangers to the degree she out her self in A&E and hits other children with objects meltdown for over 30mins and will keep going and won't sleep it take us 4 hours to get her to sleep only for her to be awake two hours later for another 3 hours ... I'm so exhausted xx

Physio is good! My DD also hated weight bearing so we spent quite a bit of time on physical stuff. She's still not the most confident but can ride a bike and climb and jump so it really helps with joining in and social stuff that she can enjoy now.